news - FMO Invests in first global fintech fund for the underserved

The Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, managed by Quona Capital, invests in companies that innovate to expand access to financial services to underserved consumers and businesses in emerging markets.

• Three billion people around the world are underserved by the financial sector, with limited or no access to quality savings, credit, insurance, and payments.
• The Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund aims to address this solvable problem by catalyzing fintech innovations that can radically improve the quality and availability of financial services for the underserved.
• Alternative credit, payments, small and medium enterprise (SME) finance, and insurtech are among the solutions the Fund aims to accelerate.

FMO announced today that it has invested in the Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, the world’s first global fintech fund for the underserved. Global financial inclusion pioneer Accion and fund manager Quona Capital announced the final close of the Fund on March 5, 2017.

The oversubscribed Fund represents $141M in commitments from an array of leading institutional investors including global insurance companies, investment banks and asset managers, a university endowment, prominent foundations and family offices, as well as development finance institutions. The Fund will focus on emerging markets in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia (with a particular emphasis on India and Southeast Asia) that have demonstrated the greatest potential for inclusive fintech.

“Three billion people are left out of, or poorly served by, the global financial system. The Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund – the world’s first global fintech fund for the underserved – will help address this,” said Michael Schlein, CEO and President of Accion. “The Fund will support innovators using new technologies to help create a financial system that works for everyone. By focusing on both social impact and financial returns, we believe the Fund shows the importance of harnessing the capital markets to solve society’s most challenging problems.”